Trump news: President limits rally to 21 minutes after crowds kept out by Covid restrictions
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In an unexpected turn of events, Donald Trump delivered one of his all-time shortest speech after his campaign rally in Minnesota was limited to 250 people.
Trump lashed out at governor Tim Walz for placing the restrictions. But that didn't stop the president visiting supporters waiting outside as he made a detour to press the flesh of devotees, which included adherents of the QAnon conspiracy.
Trump seemed focused on Minnesota earlier in the day while campaign in Michigan, using his rally to say Ilhan Omar doesn't love the US and would help deliver the election, while comparing George Floyd protests in Minneapolis to Berlin at the height of World War Two.
By the time he got to speak, however, the president had only 21-minutes for the small crowd which was dwarfed by the thousands being drawn to campaign events in other swing states.
Across town, Joe Biden lashed out at Minnesotans disrupting his campaign rally, saying the “ugly folks” were not polite for interrupting his speech criticizing Donald Trump over the Covid-19 pandemic.
The majority of Americans, meanwhile, believe Trump has harmed the standing of the US in the world, according to an exclusive poll for The Independent.
Whether or not that's a strong enough rebuke to lose Trump the presidency, Trump will find out from the privacy of the White House rather than the election night party in his Washington, DC hotel.
► For more on the race for the White House, follow our dedicated US election polling liveblog
BREAKING: Judge approves extradition of Kyle Rittenhouse to face homicide charges for Kenosha shootings
A judge in Illinois has approved the extradition of the 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting two people during protests in Wisconsin in August.
Kyle Rittenhouse shot dead Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber in Kenosha, having joined right-wing vigilantes claiming to “defend” the town from Black Lives Matter protesters.
He said his actions were in self defence and fled the state to Illinois where he was arrested and charged with murder days later.
Oliver O’Connell is following the story as it unfolds.
Judge approves extradition of Kyle Rittenhouse to face homicide charges for Kenosha shootings
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
Twitter ‘sabotaging public discourse’ says Department of Homeland Security
DHS acting secretary Chad Wolf just dropped terse letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey accusing his company of sabotaging public discourse over a censored tweet from an official with US Customs and Border Protection.
The tweet said CBP was building the wall along the US-Mexico border to “stop gang members, murderers, sexual predators and drugs” from entering the country. Twitter took down the tweet for “promoting violence against, threaten or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation” etc, before it was ultimately reinstated.
Mr Wolf said Twitter censoring government officials endangered national security.
“It is dangerous and damaging when any publisher arbitrarily and unfoundedly decides, as it did here, that the fact and policies of a particular presidential administration constitute ‘violence’ in order to sensor them,” he said.
“And in the case of Twitter, this can cut off an essential mode of communication between the US Government officials and the public. In doing so, Twitter is sabotaging public discourse regarding important national and homeland security issues.”
Read the full letter:
Biden's lawyer warns they're ready for Trump to challenge election results
A lawyer on Joe Biden’s campaign team has said they are ready to deal with any attempt by Donald Trump to dispute the election outcome, and that “if he tries, he won’t succeed.”
Bob Bauer, who served as White House counsel in Barack Obama’s administration, has been with the Bidean campaign for several months, working to prepare for any legal battles that could arise following the 3 November vote.
The Republican president, Donald Trump, has likewise prepared his own team of lawyers, having spent months delegitimising mail-in ballots amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Trump may fantasize or claim he has all sorts of ways of stomping out the election results, terrorising polling places and the like, and that’s just not the case,” said Mr Bauer, in an interview with Reuters. “If he tries, he won’t succeed.”
The Independent’s Gino Spocchia reports.
Biden lawyer warns Trump 'wont succeed' with any election challenge
Law professor who worked on Obama campaigns added that the 2020 race has been ‘pretty heated’
'Every freaking rally': Ilhan Omar blasts 'neglected child' Trump for continually insulting her
Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar called Donald Trump a “neglected child,” after he once again attacked her, claiming that she doesn’t love America, at his campaign rally in Michigan on Friday.
n an hour-long speech to a crowd in Waterford Township, Michigan, Mr Trump said a Biden presidency would see Michigan turn into a refugee camp with “unlimited migration from deadly war zones and terrorist havens.”
The president brought up Ms Omar in his usual freewheeling style: “A 700 per cent increase in refugees from the most dangerous terror hot spots anywhere in the world, including Syria, Somalia… where Omar… Omar, that’s the other reason I’m going to win. Ilhan Omar.”
He added, sarcastically: “She loves our country very much.”
The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell and James Crump report.
Ilhan Omar blasts 'neglected child' Trump for continually insulting her
‘The president is a threat to public health,’ Minnesota representative tweeted ahead of rally in her state as number of Covid-19 cases hits record
EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s denial of climate change represents worse threat to humanity than Hitler, says activist Noam Chomsky
The veteran intellectual tells The Independent Andrew Buncombe there is barely a decade to avert environmental catastrophe.
Noam Chomsky is not in the mood for holding back. The celebrated linguist and media critic watches the world approaching a US election whose outcome he believes could send the planet hurtling further towards environmental catastrophe. It is perhaps not surprising he has stark words about Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which he says is the world’s only large conservative political grouping to deny the existence of climate change.
Trump represents worse threat to humanity than Hitler, claims Chomsky
Exclusive: Veteran intellectual tells The Independent there is barely a decade to avert environmental catastrophe
Biden calls Trump supporters who disrupted Minnesota rally ‘ugly folks’
Joe Biden lashed out at Minnesotans disrupting his campaign rally, saying the “ugly folks” were not polite for interrupting his speech criticizing Donald Trump over the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Dr Fauci called for a mask mandate last week, this isn’t a isn’t a political statement like those ugly folks over there beeping their horns, this is a patriotic duty for God sake,” Mr Biden said.
It is the second time in the past week that Mr Biden insulted disruptive Trump supporters after saying they were “chumps” in Pennsylvania last week, and it evokes the “basket of deplorables” speech from Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
Video posted online showed the Trump supporters chanting “Joe’s a crook” while waving flags, blowing whistles and horns, and ringing cowbells.
Mr Biden’s drive-in rally in Minnesota’s Falcon Heights began with attacks on the president’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as the apparent Trump supporters attempted to drown out the audio with car horns.
“These guys are not very polite but they’re like Trump. But look, they’re going to be ok. We’re going to take care of them as well. We need to come together, made a fight for all these folks,” Mr Biden said.
“There’s a reason they want to hear me, because they know the president doesn’t’ say anything. So they’re not used to not hearing anything.”
Biden calls Trump supporters who disrupted Minnesota rally ‘ugly folks'
‘They’re like Trump. But look, they’re going to be ok. We’re going to take care of them as well’
Watch Trump’s Minnesota rally live with The Independent
Live: President Donald Trump campaigns in Minnesota
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Trump says he expressed sympathies to French president Emmanuel Macron
“I spoke to President Macron of France yesterday and put out my sympathy for what they’ve been through over the last four days with terrorist attacks the likes of which you have seen,” Trump says.
BREAKING: Trump attacks governor over limiting rally size after taking detour to see overflow crowd
As Minnesota reached its highest-ever single-day coronavirus case count, Donald Trump attacked the state’s governor Tim Walz for limiting his campaign rally attendance.
“All because the governor wants to play games,” the president said before shaking hands and tossing campaign hats to supporters in an overflow area at the Rochester rally on Friday.
“He’s a weak governor, he’s done a terrible job, he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing," he said.
The president criticised Governor Walz and attorney general Keith Ellison as he spoke to a limited crowd of 250 people, claiming Minnesota officials are responsible for “cancel culture” and are attempting to ”take away your freedom and your rights."
The Independent’s Alex Woodward is following the story as it unfolds.
Trump attacks governor over limiting rally size after taking detour to see overflow crowd
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
QAnon adherents turn out to see Trump in Minnesota
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